I stared at him, searching for something witty or at least intelligent to say. Want to know what this intellectual Ravenclaw came out with?

"Wha-? You- you mean with you?"

I watched, utterly gobsmacked, as Remus chuckled nervously with a nod. I opened my mouth but all that came out was a large cough. Sweet mother of God, what did I do to deserve this?

Was it possibly that time when I was playing with Mum's wand and made the dresser of new dresses burst into flames when I was ten? It could be the incident two months before that, when all of the frogs, fish, and insects that hung around the neighborhood pond 'magically' found their way into Lindsey Kimberton's house after she and her sisters made fun of the fact that my parents' marriage didn't work out. Or maybe it was the time I threw both of Mum's evil cats out the second story window two days after that? Maybe it was when I accidently sent an angry pack of squirrels and blue birds on a Muggle boy [Jeremy Eddy] who pulled my trousers down in front of all of his friends when I was walking to the store a few blocks away to buy the bloody spawns of Satan's feline treats in efforts of a peace treaty with the evil blasted things...

They were both staring at me, clearly startled. I quickly launched into speech again, albeit, just as incoherently. "Fire- Frogs and- completely accidental, couldn't help- and I- and those cats!- they were after my blood- but I shouldn't have- with the window- so I went to- for the treats- but I didn't- and with Jeremy- he came at me- and I didn't notice- and suddenly he pulled my pants down- so I turned around- I didn't mean for it- he was just there- I didn't- accident-!"

I stopped suddenly; they were looking stricken now. I believe this conversation took a very bad turn, now it sounded like I was apart of a sexual activity... Sighing quietly, I hung my head. Why did this always happen to me? Every single bloody time that Remus was nice to me (without provocation, mind you) I lose my head.

Suddenly Lily snorted with laughter. I looked over to see her clutching her side, laughing hysterically and gasping for air.

I shot Sirius a furious glare, pushing him away, and continuing to mutter about the unfairness of the world to myself. "Of all the things to say. Stupid world. Some greater force must really, really dislike me." I continued bitterly.

I glanced over to see James staring at Lily with mild curiosity, poking her side. "What on Earth did you do?"

I shrugged, dejected. Gods, about 5 minutes ago I was ecstatically confused. Speaking of which...

I glanced over at Remus to see that he is staring at me with a very odd look. It looked bitter and angry and curious and confused and disappointed and- and... something even odder then the combination of all of that... he had that sort of dazed look that Sirius always had when Erin was around.

My heart thumped wildly in my chest. I blinked hard. It was still there- The Look, it was there! My palms felt sweaty and my chest hurt. Something wasn't working inside my body, but I couldn't really think of what it was. Remus tore his gaze away suddenly; apparently someone of our group was talking to him. Everything sounded sort of fuzzy. My head felt light. I saw little black dots in front of my eyes. I tried to blink, but they only got bigger. I felt my chest contracting painfully.

"Connor? Connor are you okay?" Sirius' voice shot through my senses and I took a huge gasp of air.

I had forgotten to breath...

***

"It was The Look!" I shrieked, eyes wide, pacing. "He was looking at me with The Look!"

"What the bloody hell are you going on about?" Sirius asked, looking concerned and surprised. Then again, I had pretty much dragged him away and ordered him to take me to the closest quiet place he could find. We ended up in a bedroom that I guessed was James', with the pictures of him and Lily and the four Marauders and a few people that I suppose were his parents.

"The Look, damn it!" I shouted, flopping on the bed and hugging the nearest pillow tightly. My eyes were wide and I was in a panic. I started to hyperventilate, squeezing my eyes shut.

I felt the bed sag a bit and a hand on my back. "I still don't know what you're talking about, love."

Taking deep and slow breaths I managed to calm myself down. "It's the same looking you give Erin..." I whispered. "It's not to the point of James and Lily, but it sure as hell is something."

I noticed Sirius stiffen after my first sentence. "What are you talking about?"

A snort escaped me, I could feel myself calming in contrast to his sudden panic. "You like Erin, anyone with eyes could tell ('Cept her of course, the stupid girl), and the way you look at her... it's just... I don't know. It's special." I looked over at him, smiling faintly.

Sirius was looking startled. "I- I don't understand."

"It's magical." I whispered, now grinning. "You do like her don't you?"

He grew rapidly scarlet. "Well- I- I- I mean, she's pr-pretty... and she's funny, and when she talks I can't tune it out like I usually can... and I want to listen to what she has to say... and she smells really nice too... and when she walks..." he trailed off, obviously lost in thought.

I could only smile. "Looks like I'm not the only one here with unresolved love issues..."

Sirius looked over at me, curiously, a grin sliding over his face. "Yeah. I guess... but you're there, Casey, you're in the home scratch or whatever the saying is. He's open and he's fancied you for days now!" Sirius was standing up, taking my wrist, looking excitedly at me. He was pulling me out the door and back to the ballroom. "Ever since that whole thing between Erin and Yoast, cause she started trying to dictate who he could be around-"

I sighed quietly, smiling. "He likes me." I whispered, trying it out. It sounded absolutely lovely. I looked over at Sirius, feeling a surge of appreciation. "Merlin, Sirius, do you realize what you've done? I couldn't have done this without you." We walked into the ballroom, slowly walking down the stairs together. I looked around the room, which was now very full, for the others.

In my search I missed Sirius' thoughtful look at me, but his quiet and prideful statement reached my ears.

"No, I think you had it in you all along..." He told me, smiling widely. "I just gave you a shove in the right direction, s'all. The rest of it, though, that's all you."

I felt my face flush and I hugged him tightly once we reached the bottom of the stairs. I pulled away and thanked him again.

He furrowed his brows. "I just told you-"

"Not for that." I said, grinning playfully as I pulled him over to where Lily, James, Remus, Peter, and a girl I recognized as Lily's friend Marlene. "For being the greatest bloody best mate I could ever have ask for."

Sirius laughed. "Your welcome, Connor."

***

I don't think that I ever experienced so much attention from the male population.

Never. Never ever. In my entire life. Ever.

Every song I had some boy that I vaguely recognized from various Houses in our year ask me to dance. There were a few Aurors that worked with Mr. and Mrs. Potter that were two or three years to my senior that asked too. My face would flushed brillantly and I would accept quickly.

I loved dancing. I don't know why I avoided it all my life. It was fun, especially the fast ones, which they were playing a lot of. You got to jump and spin and act like an idiot without anyone actually thinking that you were one!

I had never had so much fun in my life. It was elevating and exhilarating and just plain enjoyable.

"Mind if I cut in?"

I spun around mid-jump and stumbled, smiling at James. A slow song came on, and I smiled at a boy I thought might have been named Henry who I believed was the Hufflepuff Quidditch captain. I turned to James and took a step closer. He placed his hands lightly and respectably on my waist and mine on his shoulders.

"Some one is little Miss Popular tonight." James commented, grinning cheekily at me. His breath smelled light of alcohol. Was there drinking here?

He chuckled and smiled at me fondly. "I like you. You're funny. Smart. Pretty too. You'll be good for Moony." I flushed at the very mention of Remus and James smirked. "You've really got him you know."

I rose an eyebrow, curious at what he might know. "What do you mean?"

"For a little while now, he's been taken by you. Gets real quiet whenever Sirius talks about you, you know? It's pretty funny, and we take the mickey out of him every time he does it. He gets all red and mumbles a lot."

I felt my heart melting. He gets red and mumbles. Swoon.

"Kinda like you." he comments.

"Huh?"

"Whenever I talk about Remus you get all quiet and red and mumble too.

I blushed. "I do not." I muttered, then noticed that I just proved it. "Bollocks."

James laughed and the song slowly faded and we stepped apart. "Come on, lets get a drink."

I nodded and followed him through the crowd. We reached a table where Remus and Sirius were standing, smoking cups in hand. Remus was laughing at something Sirius was explaining. Or maybe he was just laughing at Sirius in general; He was waving his hands around animatedly with wide eyes, his mouth moving rapidly. He was sloshing his drink a bit but was taking no notice.

I opened my mouth only to have Remus cut me off. "Dance." he instructed thickly, stepping toward me.

My eyebrows shot up, and I stumbled slightly as I took a quick step back in surprise. "What?" I questioned nervously.

Remus interlocked the fingers of one of his hands with mine quickly, and started spinning me around. I heard Sirius' bark of laughter and James chuckling.

The world spun around and around as we moved out toward the dance floor. I felt dizzy and my head felt heavy. Around and around... and around some more.

"Stop it." I mumbled, eyes shut tight.

Suddenly I was flush against Remus' chest. He looked down at me with happy amusement. "Hi." he said with a giggle.

I couldn't form words. The world was still spinning around me, but his face stood clear as I focused on it. His body felt hot against mine. He had an arm wrapped all the way around me, holding my side tightly to his front. My fingers were a little sweaty, but still locked with his somewhere around me. His face was barely inches from mine as he grinned at me.

All I could do was watch wordlessly as his slowly functioning brain processed just how close we were. A look of dazed realization slide onto his face, and the giddy grin faded into a contemplative frown of thought.

My breath was caught in my throat and I watched, both petrified and uncontrollably excited, as his face got much closer to mine. His cool hand came up and was placed under my jaw as he cupped the side of my neck, guiding my lips towards his.

The dizzy feeling was lifted, only to be replaced by a sudden explosion of the infamous butterflies in my stomach as he kissed me.

His lips just grazed my own, I felt only a millisecond within a millisecond of the smooth pink lips- before suddenly feeling something clutch my arm and yank me away from the glorious position. Next second I was nose to nose with none other then Emma 'Yellow-bellied' Yoast...

And between you and me, she looked just about anything but cowardly.

A/N:

I'm utterly and completely sorry about this late late latelatelate update. You see, I had it in validation before HPFF went haywire and whatnot. However, I lost that and a large chunk of my reviews when we got to return here. I didn't realize that until very recently. So again, I am soooo sorry.

On a different note, what did you think? I love the beginning of this chapter. It is so random and always makes me giggle. However, I'm not very found of the rest of this chapter. The ending was fun though *grins evilly* don't you think?